How to Create Uncontested Market Space

and Make the Competition Irrelevant

W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne

Summary: Sreekanth Jayanti

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Content
• Blue Ocean Strategy
• Creating Blue Oceans
• Analytical Tools and Frameworks

• Formulating Blue Ocean Strategy

• Reconstruct Market Boundaries
• Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers
• Reach Beyond Existing Demand
• Get the Strategic Sequence Right

• Executing Blue Ocean Strategy

• Overcome Key Organizational Hurdles
• Build Execution into Strategy
• Sustainability and Renewals of Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy 2

1

Blue Ocean Strategy

• Creating Blue Oceans
• Analytical Tools and Frameworks
Market Imperatives
• Niche markets and havens for monopoly continue
to disappear.

• Accelerated commoditization of products and

services.

• Increasing price wars and shrinking profit margins.

• In such overcrowded industries, differentiating

brands becoming harder.

Blue Ocean Strategy 4

Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean
Red Ocean Blue Ocean

Competing in existing market space Create uncontested market space.

Beat the competition Make the competition irrelevant

Exploiting existing demand Create and capture new demand.

Make the value-cost tradeoff Break the value-cost tradeoff.

Align the whole system of a firm’s Align the whole system of a firm’s
activities with its strategic choice of activities in pursuit of differentiation and
differentiation or low cost. low cost.

Blue Ocean Strategy 5

Value Innovation
Value
• Value Innovation is the corner stone of Blue Ocean Strategy. It is Innovation

about creating a leap in value for buyers and company by aligning

innovation with utility, cost and price. Costs
• Value without innovation tends to focus on value creation on
incremental scale.
• Innovation without value tends to be technology driven, market
pioneering or futuristic.
Value
• Simultaneous Pursuit of Differentiation and Low Cost Innovation
• Value innovation is created in the region where a company’s actions
favorably affect both its cost structure and its value proposition to
buyers.
• Cost savings are made by eliminating and reducing the factors an
industry competes on. Buyer Value
• Buyer value is lifted by raising and creating elements the industry has
never offered.
• Over time, costs are reduced further as scale economies kick in due to Simultaneous Pursuit of
the high sales volumes that supplier value generates. Differentiation and Low Cost

Blue Ocean Strategy 6

Six Principles
Formulation Principles Risk factor each principle Tools / Frameworks
attenuates
1 Reconstruct Market Boundaries Search Risk
2 Focus on the big picture, not the numbers Planning Risk
3 Reach beyond existing demand Scale Risk
4 Get the strategic sequence right Business Model Risk

Execution Principles Risk factor each principle Tools / Frameworks

attenuates
5 Overcome key organizational hurdles Organizational Risk
6 Build execution into strategy Management Risk

Blue Ocean Strategy 7

2

Blue Ocean Strategy

• Creating Blue Oceans
• Analytical Tools and Frameworks
The Strategy Canvas
Strategy Canvas
Strategy Canvas
High

Value Curve
(Strategic Profile)

Low

Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 Factor 6 Factor 7 Factor 8

Blue Ocean Strategy 9

The Four Actions Framework
Four Actions

• The four actions framework offers a

Framework

Reduce
technique that breaks the trade-off Which factors should
be reduced well below
between differentiation and low the industry’s
standard?
cost and to create a new value
curve.
• It answers the four key questions
Eliminate Create
• What industry takes for granted and Which of the factors A New Which factors should
needs to be eliminated? that the industry takes Value be created that the
for granted should be Curve industry has never
• What factors need to be reduced below eliminated? offered?
industry standards?
• What factors need to be raised above
industry standards?
Raise
• What should be created that the Which factors should
industry has never offered? be raised well above
the industry’s
standard?

Blue Ocean Strategy 10

Eliminate, Reduce, Raise & Create (ERRC) Grid E R
R C

• The eliminate-reduce-raise-create (ERRC) grid ERRC Grid

pushes companies not only to ask all four

questions in the four actions framework but also Eliminate Raise
to act on all four to create a new value curve.
• By driving companies to fill in the grid with the
actions of eliminating, reducing, raising, and
creating, the grid provides four immediate
benefits:
• it pushes them to simultaneously pursue
differentiation and low costs; Reduce Create
• identifies companies who are only raising and
creating thereby raising costs;
• makes it easier for managers to understand and
comply;
• and it drives companies to scrutinize every factor
the industry competes on.

Blue Ocean Strategy 11

Characteristics of a Good Strategy
• Focus Strategy Canvas

• A company’s strategic profile, or value curve, should clearly show Focus

• Do not diffuse efforts across all factors of competition - emphasize on few factors

• Divergence
• Reactive strategies tend to share the same strategic profile
• Divergence is result of not just benchmarking competitors but instead looking across alternatives.

• Compelling Tag Line

• A good strategy has a clear-cut and compelling tagline.
• A good tagline must not only deliver a clear message but also advertise an offering truthfully, or else
customers will lose trust and interest.

Blue Ocean Strategy 12

Analyzing Value Curves
Strategy Canvas

Description Characteristics
Blue Ocean Strategy • Lacks Focus:
• Cost structure will tend to be high
• Complex business model in implementation and execution.
• Lacks divergence
• Me-too strategy with no reason to stand apart in the marketplace.
• Lacks a compelling tagline
• internally driven
• innovation for innovation’s sake –no commercial potential and no natural take-off capability
Red Ocean Strategy • Converges with competition - outdo its competition on the basis of cost or quality
Over Delivery Without Payback • High levels across all factors (no divergence)
• Oversupplying its customers, offering too much that add incremental value to buyers
An Incoherent Strategy • Strategy based on independent sub strategies. (Divisional or Functional focus)
• Does not distinguish the company from the best competitor
• Provide a clear strategic vision.
Strategic Contradictions • High level in one competing factor, while ignoring supporting factors
An Internally Driven Company • Competing factors stated in operational jargon – not in terms buyers can understand and value
• Built using “onside-out” perspective (operational) – not “outside-in” (demand driven)

Blue Ocean Strategy 13

3

Formulating Blue Ocean Strategy

• Reconstruct Market Boundaries
• Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers
• Reach Beyond Existing Demand
• Get the Strategic Sequence Right
Red Ocean Trap - Competitive Convergence
• Define their industry similarly and focus on being the best within it

• Look at their industries through the lens of generally accepted strategic groups and strive to
stand out in the strategic group they play in

• Focus on the same buyer group, be it the purchaser, the user or the influencer

• Define the scope of the products and services offered by their industry similarly

• Accept their industry’s functional or emotional orientation

• Focus on the same point in time—and often on current competitive threats

Blue Ocean Strategy 15

Reconstructing Market Boundaries – 6 Path Framework
Look Across Alternative • What are the alternative industries to your industry? Six Path Analysis

Industries • Why do customers trade across them?

• By focusing on key factors for trade, and eliminating or reducing everything else, you can create
a blue ocean of new market space.
Look Across Strategic Groups • What are the strategic groups in your industry?
Within Industries • Why do customers trade up for the higher group, and why do they trade down for the lower
one?
Look Across the Chain of • What is the chain of buyers in your industry?
Buyers • Which buyer group (purchases, user, or influencer) does your industry typically focus on?
• If you shifted the buyer group, how could you unlock new value?
Look Across Complimentary • What is the context in which your product or service is used?
Products and Service Offerings • What happens before, during, and after? Can you identify the pain points?
• How can you eliminate these pain points through a complementary product or service offerings?
Look Across Functional or • Does your industry compete on functionality or emotional appeal?
Emotional Appeal to Buyers • If you compete on emotional appeal, what elements can you strip out to make it functional?
• If you compete on functionality, what elements can be added to make it emotional?
Look Across Time • What trends have a high probability of impacting your industry, are irreversible, and are evolving
in a clear trajectory?
• How will these trends impact your industry?
• Given this, how can you open up unprecedented customer utility?
From Head to Head Competition to Blue Ocean Creation
Six Path Analysis

Head to Head Competition Blue Ocean Creation

Industry Focuses on rivals within its industry Looks across alternative industries
Strategic Group Focuses on competitive position within strategic Looks across strategic groups within
group industry
Buyer Group Focuses on better serving the buyer group Redefines the industry buyer group
Scope of Product or Service Offering Focuses on maximizing the value of product and Looks across to complementary product
service offerings within the bounds of its industry and service offerings

Functional-emotional Orientation Focuses on improving price performance within Rethinks the functional-emotional
the functional-emotional orientation of its orientation of its industry
industry
Time Focuses on adapting to external trends as they Participates in shaping external trends over
occur time

Blue Ocean Strategy 17

4

Formulating Blue Ocean Strategy

• Reconstruct Market Boundaries
• Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers
• Reach Beyond Existing Demand
• Get the Strategic Sequence Right
The Four Steps of Visualizing Strategy
1. Visual Awakening 2. Visual Exploration 3. Visual Strategy Fair 4. Visual Communication

• Compare your business with • Go into the field to explore • Draw your “to be” strategy • Distribute your before-and-
your competitors’ by the six paths to creating canvas based on insights after strategic profiles on
drawing your “as is” blue oceans. from field observations. one page for easy
strategy canvas. • Observe the distinctive • Get feedback on alternative comparison.
• See where your strategy advantages of alternative strategy canvases from • Support only those projects
needs to change. products and services. customers, competitors’ and operational moves that
• See which factors you customers, and allow your company to close
should eliminate, create, or noncustomers. the gaps to actualize the
change. • Use feedback to build the new strategy.
best “to be” future strategy.

Blue Ocean Strategy 19

Pioneer, Migrator & Settler Map
Testing the Growth Potential of a Portfolio of Business
• A corporate management team pursuing PMS Map

profitable growth can plot the company’s

current and planned portfolios on a pioneer- Pioneers
migrator-settler (PMS) map.

• This strategy can help a company determine

which businesses experience the highest Migrators
and lowest growth and cash flow.

• These are classified accordingly with the

highest growth potential being pioneers, Settlers

then to migrators, then to the lowest rung,

settlers.

Today Tomorrow

Blue Ocean Strategy 20

5

Formulating Blue Ocean Strategy

• Reconstruct Market Boundaries
• Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers
• Reach Beyond Existing Demand
• Get the Strategic Sequence Right
The Three Tiers of Noncustomers
Tiers of
“Soon-to-be” noncustomers who are Noncustomers

on the edge of your market, waiting

to jump ship.
“Refusing” noncustomers who
consciously choose against your market.

Your First Second Third

Market Tier Tier Tier

“Unexplored” noncustomers who are in

markets distant from yours

Blue Ocean Strategy 22

6

Formulating Blue Ocean Strategy

• Reconstruct Market Boundaries
• Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers
• Reach Beyond Existing Demand
• Get the Strategic Sequence Right
The Sequence of Blue Ocean Strategy
Strategic
Buyer Utility
• An important part of blue ocean strategy is to “get the strategic
Sequence

Is there exceptional buyer

utility in your business idea?
sequence right.” No-Rethink

• This sequence fleshes out and validates blue ocean ideas to Yes
Price
ensure their commercial viability. Is your price easily accessible
to the mass of buyers?

• This can then reduce business model risk. No-Rethink

Yes
• In this model, potential blue ocean ideas must pass through a Cost
Can you attain your cost target
sequence of buyer utility, price, cost, and adoption. to profit at your strategic
price?
No-Rethink
• At each step there are only two options: a “yes” answer, in Yes
which case the idea may pass to the next step, or “no”. Adoptions
What are the adoption hurdles in
actualizing your business idea? Are
• If an idea receives a no at any point, the company can either you addressing them up front?
No-Rethink
park the idea or rethink it until you get a yes. Yes

A Commercially
Viable
Blue Ocean Idea

Blue Ocean Strategy 24

The Buyer Utility Map
The Six Stages of the Buyer Experience Cycle Buyer Utility
Map (BUM/BEC)

1. Purchase 2. Delivery 3. Use 4. Supplements 5. Maintenance 6. Disposal

Customer
The Six Utility Levers

Productivity
Simplicity

Convenience

Risk

Fun and Image

Environmental
Friendliness

• The buyer utility map helps managers look at this issue from the right perspective (“outside-in”).

• It outlines all the levers companies can pull to deliver exceptional utility to buyers as well as the various experiences
buyers can have with a product or service.

• If your offering falls on the same space or spaces as those of other players, chances are it is not a blue ocean
offering.

Blue Ocean Strategy 25

The Buyer Experience Cycle
Buyer Utility
Map (BUM/BEC)

Purchase Delivery Use Supplements Maintenance Disposal

• How long does it take • How long does it take • Does the product • Do you need other • Does the product • Does use of the
to find the product you to get the product require training or products and services require external product create waste
need? delivered? expert assistance? to make this product maintenance? items?
work?
• Is the place of purchase • How difficult is it to • Is the product easy to • How easy is it to • How easy is it to
attractive and unpack and install the store when not in use? • If so, how costly are maintain and upgrade dispose of the product?
accessible? new product? they? the product?
• How effective are the • Are there legal
• How secure is the • Do buyers have to product’s features and • How much time do • How costly is environmental issues in
transaction arrange delivery functions? they take? maintenance? disposing of the
environment? themselves? If yes, how product safely?
costly and difficult is • Does the product or • How much pain do they
• How rapidly can you this? service deliver far more cause? • How costly is disposal?
make a purchase? power or options than
required by the average • How easy are they to
use? Is it overcharged obtain?
with bells and whistles?

• A buyer’s experience can usually be broken into a cycle of six stages, running more or less sequentially from
purchase to disposal.
• Each stage encompasses a wide variety of specific experiences.
• At each stage, managers can ask a set of questions to gauge the quality of buyer’s experience.

Blue Ocean Strategy 26

 Uncovering the Blocks to Buyer Utility
Buyer Utility
Map (BUM/BEC)

Purchase Delivery Use Supplements Maintenance Disposal

Customer • In which stage are the biggest blocks to customer productivity?

Productivity
The Six Utility Levers

Simplicity • In which stage are the biggest blocks to simplicity?

Convenience • In which stage are the biggest blocks to convenience?

Risk • In which stage are the biggest blocks to risk?

Fun and Image • In which stage are the biggest blocks to fun and image?

Environmental • In which stage are the biggest blocks to environmental friendliness?

Friendliness

Blue Ocean Strategy 27

The Price Corridor of the Mass
Price Corridor of
Mass

Step 1 : Identify the price corridor of the mass. Step 2: Specify a price level within the price corridor.
Three alternative product/service types
Different form
Same Different form, and function,
form Same function same objective

High degree of legal and

resource protection
Difficult to imitate

Price Corridor
Of the Mass Mid-level pricing Some degree of legal and
resource protection

Low degree of legal and

resource protection
Easy to imitate

Size of circle is proportional to number of

buyers that product/service attracts

Blue Ocean Strategy 28

Target Costing: The Profit Model of Blue Ocean Strategy
• The profit model of blue ocean strategy shows how Target Costing

The Strategic Price

value innovation typically maximizes profit by using
the three levers of strategic price, target cost, and
pricing innovation using three levers. The Target
Profit

• The first lever is streamlining operations and

introducing cost innovations from manufacturing to
The Target Cost
distribution

Streamlining and
• Second lever is partnering Cost Innovations
Partnering

• Third lever is changing the pricing model of the Pricing Innovation

industry (pricing innovation)

Blue Ocean Strategy 29

Adoption
• Employees
• Companies should work with employees to find ways of defusing the threats so that everyone in the
company wins, despite shifts in people’s roles, responsibilities, and rewards.

• Business Partners
• Address resistance of partners who fear that their revenue streams or market positions are threatened
by a new business idea.

• General Public
• Opposition to a new business idea can also spread to the general public, especially if the idea is very
new and innovative, threatening established social or political norms.
• The company should take charge and educate public and address their concerns.

Blue Ocean Strategy 30

The Blue Ocean Idea Index
Blue Ocean Idea
(BOI) Index

Product #1 Product #2 Product #3

Utility Is there exceptional utility? - - +
Are there compelling reasons to buy your offering?
Price Is your price easily accessible to the mass of buyers? - - +
Cost Does your cost structure meet the target cost? - - +
Adoption Have you addressed adoption hurdles up front? - +/- +

• The blue ocean idea index is a simple but robust test demonstrating how the sequence of utility, price, cost, and
adoption form an integral whole to ensure commercial success through blue ocean strategy.

Blue Ocean Strategy 31

7

Executing Blue Ocean Strategy

• Overcome Key Organizational Hurdles
• Build Execution into Strategy
• Sustainability and Renewals of Blue Ocean Strategy
The Four Organizational Hurdles to Strategy Execution
Hurdles to

• Cognitive hurdle that blinds employees from seeing Execution

that radical change is necessary Cognitive Hurdle

An Organization
wedded to status
quo
• Resource hurdle that is endemic in firms

• Motivational hurdle that discourages and

Political Hurdle
demoralizes staff Opposition from Resource Hurdle
powerful vested Limited Resources
interests

• Political hurdle of internal and external resistance to

change
Motivational
Hurdle
Unmotivated Staff

Blue Ocean Strategy 33

Tipping Point Leadership - Disproportionate Influencing Factors
Hurdles to
• In any organization, fundamental changes can happen Execution

quickly when the beliefs and energies of a critical mass of Conventional Wisdom
people create an epidemic movement toward an idea.
• In every organization, there are people, acts, and activities
that exercise a disproportionate influence on performance. Mass of Employees

Company
• Tipping Point Leadership is about conserving resources and Theory of organization change rests on transforming the mass. So change
efforts are focused on moving the mass, requiring steep resources and long
cutting time by focusing on identifying and then leveraging time frames.
the factors of disproportionate influence in an organization.
• What factors or acts exercise a disproportionately positive
influence on breaking the status quo?
• On getting the maximum bang out of each buck of resources? Tipping Point Leadership
• On motivating key players to aggressively move forward with
change? Extremes Extremes
• And on knocking down political roadblocks that often trip up even
the best strategies? Company
To change the mass, focus on the extremes—people, acts, and activities that
exercise a disproportionate influence on performance to achieve a strategic
shift fast at low cost.

Blue Ocean Strategy 34

Break Through the Cognitive Hurdle
Hurdles to

• Ride the “Electric Sewer” Execution

• “Seeing is believing” - inspire a fast change in mindset that is internally driven of people’s own accord.
• Experiences that don’t involve touching, seeing, or feeling actual results, such as being presented with
an abstract sheet of numbers, are shown to be non-impactful and easily forgotten.
• Numbers are disputable and uninspiring, but coming face-to-face with poor performance is shocking
and inescapable, but actionable.

• Meet with Disgruntled Customers

• Get them to listen to their most disgruntled customers firsthand - there is no substitute for meeting
and listening to dissatisfied customers directly.

Blue Ocean Strategy 35

Jump the Resource Hurdle
Hurdles to

• Multiplying Value of Resources Execution

• Hot spots are activities that have low resource input but high potential performance gains.
• Cold spots are activities that have high resource input but low performance impact
• Horse trading involves trading your unit’s excess resources in one area for another unit’s excess
resources to fill remaining resource gaps.

• Redistribute Resources to Your Hot Spots

• Feed resources to your hot spots
• Redirect Resources from Your Cold Spots
• Free up resources by searching out cold spots
• Engage in Horse Trading
• Trade resources you don’t need for those of others that they do need.

Blue Ocean Strategy 36

Jump the Motivation Hurdle
Hurdles to

• Kingpins Execution

• Kingpins are key influencers in the organization, who are natural leaders, who are well respected and
persuasive, or who have an ability to unlock or block access to key resources.
• Concentrate your efforts on Kingpins

• Fishbowl Management
• Shine a spotlight on Kingpins’ actions in a repeated and highly visible way – through transparency,
inclusion, and fair process.

• Atomization
• Framing of the strategic challenge - breaking the challenge into bite-size atoms that employees at
different levels could relate to.
• Unless people believe that the strategic challenge is attainable, the change is not likely to succeed.

Blue Ocean Strategy 37

Knock Over The Political Hurdle
Hurdles to

• Leveraging Angels Execution

• Angels are those who have the most to gain from the strategic shift.
• Silencing Devils
• Devils are those who have the most to lose from it.
• Secure a Consigliere on Your Top Management Team
• A consigliere is a politically adept but highly respected insider who knows in advance all the land mines,
including who will fight you (Devils) and who will support you (Angels).

• Identify your detractors (Devils) and supporters (Angels)

• Isolate your detractors by building a broader coalition with your angels before a battle begins.
• Key to winning over your detractors or devils is knowing all their likely angles of attack and
building up counterarguments backed by irrefutable facts and reason.

Blue Ocean Strategy 38

8

Executing Blue Ocean Strategy

• Overcome Key Organizational Hurdles
• Build Execution into Strategy
• Sustainability and Renewals of Blue Ocean Strategy
Fair Process E

E E

Fair Process: Aligning people’s minds and hearts Strategy Fair Process
Fair Process

with the new strategy by building a culture of Formulation Process Engagement, Explanation
Expectation clarity
trust, commitment, and voluntary cooperation in
its execution, as well as support for the leader
Trust and Commitment
Attitudes “I feel my opinion counts.”
Three E Principles of Fair Process
• Engagement
• Involving individuals in the strategic decisions Voluntary Cooperation
that affect them. Behavior “I’ll go beyond the call of
duty.”
• Explanation
• Everyone involved and affected should
understand why final strategic decisions are
Strategy Execution Exceeds Expectations
made as they are. Self-initiated
• Expectation Clarity
• After a strategy is set, managers state clearly the How Fair Process Affects Peoples Attitudes and Behavior
new rules of the game.
Blue Ocean Strategy 40
The Execution Consequences of the E

Presence and Absence of Fair Process in Strategy Making E E

• Emotionally, individuals seek recognition of their value, Fair Process

not as “labor,” “personnel,” or “human resources” but as Violation of

Fair Process
human beings who are treated with full respect and Fair Process
dignity and appreciated for their individual worth
regardless of hierarchical level.
• When individuals are treated with emotional recognition, Intellectual and Intellectual and
Emotional Recognition Emotional Indignation
they feel emotionally tied to the strategy and inspired to
give their all

• Intellectually, individuals seek recognition that their ideas Trust and Distrust and
Commitment Resentment
are sought after and given thoughtful reflection, and that
others think enough of their intelligence to explain their
thinking to them.
• When individuals feel recognized for their intellectual Voluntary Cooperation Refusal to Execute
in Strategy Execution Strategy
worth, they are willing to share their knowledge;

Blue Ocean Strategy 41

9

Executing Blue Ocean Strategy

• Overcome Key Organizational Hurdles
• Build Execution into Strategy
• Sustainability and Renewals of Blue Ocean Strategy
Imitation Barriers to Blue Ocean Strategy
• Value innovation does not make sense to a company’s conventional logic.
• Blue ocean strategy may conflict with other companies’ brand image.
• Natural monopoly: The market often cannot support a second player.
• Patents or legal permits block imitation.
• High volume leads to rapid cost advantage for the value innovator, discouraging followers from
entering the market.
• Network externalities discourage imitation.
• Imitation often requires significant political, operational, and cultural changes.
• Companies that value-innovate earn brand buzz and a loyal customer following that tends to
shun imitators

Blue Ocean Strategy 43

Summary
1 1 2 3
Strategy Canvas
Analytical Tools &
E R
Frameworks
2 3 R C
Four Actions Framework ERRC Grid Four Actions
Strategy Canvas Framework ERRC Grid

Reconstruct Market 4
Boundaries
6 Path Framework 4 5 6

5
Focus on the Big Picture,
Not the Numbers 8
Blue Ocean Strategy

Formulation Principles Utility Buyer Utility Map Six Path Tiers of

Reach Beyond Existing6 Framework PMS Map Noncustomers
Demand 9
Price Price Corridor of Mass
7 7 8 9 10
Get the Strategic
Sequence Right
10
Cost Target Costing

Strategic Buyer Utility Price Corridor of

Sequence Map (BUM/BEC) Mass Target Pricing
Adoption

11 12
Cognitive Hurdle

Resource Hurdle Hurdles to Tipping Point

Overcome Key
11 Execution Leadership
Organizational Hurdles 12
Value
Innovation Motivational Hurdle 13
E
Execution Principles
Political Hurdle
E E

Build Execution into

Fair Process
13 Fair Process
Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy 44

 End of presentation.
Happy surfing in Blue Oceans!